Camping with Food Allergies

Headed to the great outdoors? Camping with food allergies, as with all food allergy management, requires a little extra advance planning.

If you are headed off into the wilderness, or any distance from home, make sure you know where the closest emergency room is to your campsite. Find ER is a free mobile app that will locate the nearest emergency room for you on your smartphone. Make sure you have an emergency plan in place, especially if you will be in a location that doesn't get phone reception.

There are so many delicious, allergy-friendly meals you can cook outdoors on a campfire or camp stove. Here are a few recipes to try that are free of the "Big 8" food allergens:

• Campfire fried potatoes - Actually baked in the fire or on a grill, wrapped in foil, which makes cooking and clean-up simple and allergy-friendly.
• Classic Campfire Hobo Stew - The beauty of foil-wrapped cooking is that there is little chance for cross-contamination from grill tongs. Each person can customize their stew to include their favorite safe meats and veggies. Substitute olive or canola oil for the butter.
• Banana Boats - This classic campfire dessert can be made allergy-friendly by using soy-free, dairy-free chocolate chips or chocolate bars.
• Nut-free Trail Mix - Making your own trail mix is easy and much cheaper than most nut-free mixes available in stores.